A spike in assaults against Asian Americans nationwide converging with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has further exposed health inequities and simmering sentiments of racism over the past year.
In a report released last week, the group Stop AAPI Hate said it had received nearly 3,800 reports of hate incidents, including verbal harassment, shunning and physical assault, over the past year.
With few concrete legislative answers to the problem, health experts and patients alike are left wondering how the U.S. should address violent crimes amid a global health crisis.
Here's our Q&A with Dr. Julie Morita, a member of President Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board and executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Q: The shooting in Atlanta last week was shocking, yet almost predictable, as incidents of racism toward Asian Americans have been flaring throughout the pandemic. How did that news impact you, as an Asian-American woman?
First, I feel a deep sadness — for the victims and their families, for all Asian Americans, and for our nation. We've been watching, for the last year really, disturbing incidents of racism across the United States. We cannot dismiss these as merely isolated cases, but rather acknowledge that this is a disturbing trend that has spread alongside this pandemic.
In the past, my own inclination — and I think this is the case for many other AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) people — might have been to keep my head down in my work and my life and to move on. We can't do that anymore. This will not stop unless and until we finally make it a national priority to address the root problems that divide us, that marginalize people of color, and that allow racism to fester.
This will not be easy, and it will not happen overnight, but merely hoping this will go away is not an option. That work must begin with opening our minds and hearts, respecting and listening to people of all backgrounds and faiths, and understanding perspectives and experiences that are different from our own. That's the very least each of us can do.
Q: What is the connection between systemic racism and the mistrust around the Covid-19 vaccines and the medical establishment in general?
This again comes back to our nation's history. Trust is something that is earned, and Black Americans in particular have been mistreated by our health systems for centuries. We know of the horrors of Tuskegee, and we know that even the medical schools that produced the foundation for our health systems — through research and in clinics — treated people of color differently. The Tuskegee experiment began nearly 100 years ago, but the racism and discrimination that allowed it to happen have not abated. Even today, the health outcomes for people in communities of color are impacted by implicit bias and structural racism. Our health systems now still bear the scars of our past.
To read more of Emily Tillett's article, please click here.
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